Graduated
by Selenehekate
Summary: Oneshot. Secrets are revealed on Dominique's last night of Hogwarts... But what do they have to do with her?


The warm spring night air blew lightly through the trees of the Forbidden Forest, rustling the leaves and disturbing the gentle serenity of the down-trodden grass. The full moon was high up in the night air, and beamed down upon the castle. It reflected off of the surface of the lake, shimmering across the lightly rippled water, as beyond it, those tucked nicely in their beds back at Hogwarts slept peacefully, dreaming of their futures and the last day of term. Some of the students would be graduating the next day; all of them would be returning home. No one was stressed, no one was worried. The students all slept in bliss.

Except for six, rowdy, wide-awake teenagers, that is.

"No way!" James Potter II shouted before taking another sip of his butterbeer. "There is no _way_ that your mom wanted to date my dad!"

"Do you think I'm proud of that?" Lorcan said, rolling his eyes. "I could have ended up with _you_ as a brother."

James shuddered. "But Luna is just so-"

"I'd be quiet if I were you, mate," Lysander interrupted him, raising an eyebrow. "That _is_ my mother you're talking about, after all." James scowled in response, but everyone knew that he wasn't actually mad; James and the twins had been best friends since they were young. Now sixth years, they really couldn't say too much to anger each other.

"It's just something I've never had any desire to know," James explained, passing the butterbeer over to Lorcan. "It's too weird to think of my pseudo _aunt_ fancying my father!"

"Oh, please don't call Luna your aunt, James," Lucy said with a cringe. "Because that would mean I'm dating my cousin."

"We certainly wouldn't want that, now would we?" Lysander said, sending her a shy smile. A small blush fell over Lucy's cheeks, but the moment was ruined as a slight gagging sound came from behind her.

"Oh, gross you two!" Dominique groaned as she wordlessly used magic to open new bottle of butterbeer. "Please, I do _not_ want to have images of you lovebirds in my head all week long!"

"Oh, hush," Roxanne reprimanded. "I think they're sweet."

Dominique snorted. "Coming from the singleton."

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "Uh, I don't think you used that word properly-"

"Yes, Roxie," James interrupted, passing his cousin another bottle of butterbeer. "You _have_ been single for what? Your entire time here at Hogwarts? Merlin, that's seven years."

Roxie raised an eyebrow. "That's not a big deal."

"I don't know, love," he drawled. "It sounds to me like you're afraid of heartbreak."

She scoffed. "What an inane conclusion-"

"Roxie's afraid, Roxie's afraid!" James chanted, sweeping his arms out before him.

Lysander thumped him on the back of the head. "Hush, you! In case you've forgotten, we're not supposed to be out here!"

"Oh, what are they going to do to us?" James said with a roll of his eyes. "Tomorrow's the last day of term. They can hardly give us _detention,_ now can they?"

"Not for this year," Dominique said with a smirk. "But unlike Lucy, Rox, and I, you three aren't graduating tomorrow. You lot could still get in trouble."

"In other words," Lorcan said with a small smirk. "James, shut up."

The young Potter rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said, shaking his head. "I'll stop singing. But I still think you're afraid of dating, Rox. Come on, why _haven't_ you dated anyone at Hogwarts?"

She snorted. "I'm sorry, you mean like the twelve year olds running amok and screaming about Quidditch? Or the seventh years who brag about their OWL scores?"

James made a face. "Well there _are_ some people in between that range, you know."

Roxie rolled her eyes. "Thanks, but I'm not interested."

"Come on, Roxie," Dominique said, taking sides with James. "There has to be _somebody_ at Hogwarts that you like!"

She shrugged. "Sadly, no."

"But perhaps there's somebody _not_ at Hogwarts that you fancy," Lucy said, taking a small step closer to her cousin.

Roxie's mouth dropped open, and for a split second, it looked as though she was going to reveal the truth. But then it snapped shut. "And how would I have met them? I _do_ spend eight months a year here, you know."

"Exactly," Lucy said, a small smile dancing on her lips. "And you spend four months a year elsewhere."

Dominique also picked up on her cousin's hesitation. "Wait, who is it then? Who do you fancy?"

She groaned, shaking her head at the girl. "No one. I've already said-"

"Now hold on," James said with a laugh. "If _Dom_ thinks that you like someone, then I trust her girly instincts. That means that you must like someone-"

"Thanks," Roxie snapped at her cousin.

"Tell us!" James demanded. "Come on, please! You have to tell us!"

"Yeah," Lorcan said with a grin. "It can't be too bad, whoever it is."

"Is it Teddy?" James asked, leaning in closer to his cousin. "It has to be Teddy. Why else would you be so hesitant to tell us?"

"Refusal out of embarrassment?" Lysander said, with a small, thoughtful nod. "It's a nice theory."

"No!" Lucy said, snatching a bottle of butterbeer from her boyfriend's hand. "Stop it you guys. If Roxie doesn't want to tell us who she fancies, then she doesn't have to!"

"Well _that's_ certainly no fun," Dominique said with a pout.

"Yeah!" James agreed, turning on Lucy. "In fact, to make up for spoiling our chance to learn a secret, you have to do something embarrassing for us!"

Lucy made a face. "I'm sorry, since when did we start playing truth or dare?"

Lorcan blinked. "What?"

"Sorry. It's a muggle game. Carry on."

"I want you," James said slowly, his eyes alight with mischief. "To wade out into the lake, without taking your shoes off, until the water is over your head."

Lysander protested. "How is that embarrassing? All that's going to do is give her a chill!"

"That's what butterbeer is for," James said with a grin. "It'll warm her right up again."

Lucy sighed. "This is why muggle science is useful," she muttered. "So wizards don't use fool's logic."

"Hey!"

"Not going to happen, mate," Lysander said with a shake of his head. "I'm not letting Lucy go out there alone at _night_ after having drunk some _butterbeer_. She's a light-weight, remember? She might drown."

"So then go with her."

"No-"

"I have a better idea," Lorcan said, speaking up. "I have an embarrassing _story_."

"Really, now," Roxie said with a raised eyebrow. "You want to share one of your embarrassing moments? Voluntarily?"

"Oh, it's not about me," he said with a laugh. "It's about Dominique."

The blond vixen started, looking taken aback by the pronouncement. "I'm sorry, what?"

The boy gave a wicked grin. "Let me tell you a story about a day oh so long ago. A day I _know_ I'll never forget. A day about six years ago... My first day at Hogwarts."

Dominique's mouth dropped open. "Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me!"

James looked back and forth between the two of them, his eyes widening with interest. "What?" he asked. "What happened?"

"You can't tell them _that_," Dominique said, shaking her head.

But Lorcan just gave her a pointed look. "Want to bet?" The two of them stared at each other as their friends looked on in confusion, before Dominique finally gave in and looked away, taking a sip of her butterbeer. "You see," Lorcan said with a smile. "Dom was actually the first person I met at Hogwarts. While Lysander was off looking for a prefect to find out when we'd be there, she slipped into my compartment."

Lysander raised an eyebrow. "I never knew that!"

"I never told you," Lorcan said simply. "One second, I was staring out the window, waiting for the train to pull into the station... And the next, Dom had wrenched open the compartment door, strode up to me, grabbed my face, and kissed me."

"What?" James shouted, his eyes widening.

"Oh, no way," Roxie said, giving a small giggle. "That's just too perfect. Did you really do that?" she asked, turning to Dominique. But the blond girl said nothing and just took another sip of butterbeer.

"And then," Lorcan said, chuckling. "She pulled back, gave me a smile, and said 'Welcome to Hogwarts,' and then she left the bloody room!"

"Why didn't you say anything?" Lysander asked.

"Everything happened so fast! And then you found James, and I learned that Dom was his _cousin_, and I figured that if we would ever be friends with him like our parents wanted, then I probably shouldn't go around snogging his cousin!"

"A tip that _Lysander_ has yet to learn," James said with a small glare.

"Besides," Lorcan continued. "She never pursued it. Avoided me for _months_ you bloody well did!"

"Well, you never took the hint," Dominique rolled her eyes. "Besides, it wasn't like I _wanted_ to. It was a dare."

"Back to truth or dare again, I see," Lucy muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Yes, well, that hasn't stopped you from periodically snogging me since then, now has it?" Lorcan said, stepping closer to the girl.

James threw his hands up. "Really? _Really_?"

Dominique's eyes began to glint. "But it's only a snog. Besides, it didn't mean anything. It's an old habit. One that I've outgrown."

"Really?" Lorcan asked, leaning in closer to her.

"Really," she said, before she stepped closer to him, closing the distance between them, and laid her mouth down on his. As their friends stared on in shock, Dominique pulled back slightly, a small smile on her face. "There. Now I've done it."

"Done what?" Lorcan asked, his voice a little raspy.

"Graduated," she said smugly. "I have officially moved on from kissing you. I have no need to do so ever again."

As James and Roxie burst out laughing, Lorcan just shook his head. "Sure," he said with a small smile. "Whatever you say, Dominique."

The butterbeer keep on getting passed around between the friends as the laughter continued well into the night. The group of six raised their bottles together, celebrating the girls' last night as students, and all of the times that they'd shared while at school.

Meanwhile, up in the headmaster's tower of the castle, McGonagall stood watching and smiling faintly down at them.

* * *

><p>Hey everyone!<p>

So here's the oneshot that I've written for the second official round of the Fanfiction Idol Competition! I hope that you like it, and that you'll support me in this challenge! The prompts were moonlight, truth or dare, let me tell you a story, and comedy.

I had a lot of fun writing this! I really like Lorcan/Dominique's relationship the way that I write it! It's so much fun to explore! In addition to that, for all of you Challenge of Epic Proportions fans out there, there was a small role for our Lucy, the magnificent writer that we all love! So I hope you enjoyed that! My next NextGen oneshot will probably be about Roxie, so if you want to know who it is that she likes, look out for that...

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this! Please leave a review! They make me smile!

Thanks!

-Selene


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